Got to pondering on the drive home tonight about some stuff i will say to my son, who at this time is thinking about whether to stay with JWS or not.
Two babies are born, by chance even on the same day. One is raised a JW the other as no particular religion at all. Time passes and they stay with their respective upbringings into the late teens.
Kid 1 (NO religion) gets into normal teenage strife, sleeps around, does a bit of dodgy shit along the way while Kid 2 (jw) is pretty much a good JW kid, keeps his nose clean and pleases mummy and the elders a lot but is not baptized.
One rainy night they are both in a freak head on crash with each other and both die.
Which one has the better hope? NEITHER. They have the same chance of a resurection as each other.
Now, lets say they missed that crash and lived on into older age with the big A not arriving and at 60 kid 1 is a pot head and kid 2 an elder... one rainy night that crash happens and both die...which one has the better hope for the future? NEITHER. They still both have to same chance of a resurection.
Lets play hypothetical some more and say that the big A is one day away and kid 1 dies after falling out of a tree with a chainsaw and 24 hours later Armageddon starts and kid 2 is killed by an angry mob as a good JW, which has the better hope for the future? NEITHER, they still have the same chance.
The chance of resurection only changes according to JW teachings if kid 1 was killed during the big A by Jehovah. Then who has the best odds? KID 2.
Hypothetical some more for a moment and presume they both live on to 99 and still no armageddon. Kid 1 has had a riotous life full of every adventure he could think of, denied himself nothing, maybe even turned into a miserable old fart while kid 2 stayed a diehard JW, denied himeself every pleasure that came along as from Satan and ends up kind of happy (or maybe a cranky disapointed old git too?) and they both ironicly die the same day in the same nursing home. Who has the best hope for the future? NEITHER! They still have the same chance as each other!
So lurkers, young JWs...If you are going to stake your entire life, your every dream, on salvation through a religion like the JWs
YOU BETTER BE BLOODY WELL SURE ITS THE REAL TRUE ONE.
Because there a quite a few religions saying EXACTLY the same thing! You owe it to yourself to do all the investigating you can, read all the stuff you are too scared to read, think all the possibilities you don't dare breath because the odds are NOT in your favour of being right.
Oz